About the innovation

Hiren Panchal has seen that agricultural tool manufacturers target urban gardeners and not rural farmers, 37% farm households own land parcels of smaller than 0.4 ha. Traditionally available tools were designed for land holding that were greater than 1 ha, Health issues (particularly among women), 20-30% agricultural productivity loss in wedding, plucking, ploughing, High input costs as small-holder farmers buy tools meant for large holdings.

For solving all these problems and making available customised tools based on the farmers feedback he has developed 35 tools with various extensions, with the average price of one tool at INR 140. The primary focus is to produce affordable, durable and sustainable tools for small and marginal farmers. Additionally, some of the revenue comes from tools that can be used for horticulture, urban farmers and tool kits to introduce children to agricultural practices.

These tools increase the farm labour efficiency upto 3 times over conventional tools and thus the agricultural yield (Primary research, and feedback). There are studies that as well indicate increase in yield with farm mechanisation of small farms (Wang, Chen, Gupta & Huang, 2015). They also reduce human labour, thus improving overall health of farm workers. Occupational hazards in farms as discussed by Dwivedi & Kiran (2017) are as well solved by Mittidhan hand tools.

Mittidhan works in the rural and tribal belt of south Gujarat (Dharampur). Production team employs youth from the region and collaborates with local technical institutes for training, which provides employment opportunities to villagers. The primary sales is through local markets (haat bazaars), where we have direct interaction with farmers. Tools are distributed through other channels such as CSR, NGOs and farmers cooperatives. Moreover, the promotional material is in local languages, which increases efficient use of tools. This way they reach the grassroots level and contribute to the local economy.